Minnesota Sports Forum

mrhockey89 wrote:I'm confused as to why this is even a thread. I don't see how anyone could view Lavine's future as a PG rather than a SG? And to the point that LST has listing Flip Saunders as a guy that was for Lavine at PG, that is false. Flip said in interviews this past offseason that the only reason he was playing Lavine (out of position) as a PG was because he wanted Zach to get a chance to develop his overall game better, as he'll be able to move over to SG at anytime without problem.

I'll say this... If Zach Lavine's future on this team is as a PG, then I say we trade him right now, because he's a drain on our team at that position and likely always will be. SG, however, is a position this kid may be able to develop at.

Yeah, I did take some liberties with putting Flip in the PG category, but I really think he was on the fence about where to play Zach. Maybe putting Zach at PG was part of his tanking strategy, maybe it was because he thought it was the best move for the team...we'll never know. I know I thought playing Zach at PG was foolish at the time and it was tough to watch last year, but I've since warmed to it.

Hockey, you ask why this is even a thread, and it's a fair question with the board almost universally of the same mind that Zach needs to be a SG. But that's exactly why I teed up this thread. It kind of annoys me sometimes that Sam is almost mocked here for the decisions he has made...seems a little pompous to believe we are so much more knowledgeable than a guy who has spent his entire life in the NBA and was a former COY. So I tried to get into Sam's head to understand his reasoning, and that was the genesis for this thread.

Maybe Sam is right, and maybe the board is right...maybe we'll never know what was the best decision. But it's a good talker, I think. And there is one thing we know for certain...Sam's decision is 2-0.

LST, I perhaps was a bit to hasty with the previous post, but I am 100% certain that Flip said this past offseason that the reason he was playing Lavine at PG was for his own development, and that he thought it was clear that Lavine's future in this league is as a SG, not a PG. That's why I think you can't put Flip in that category. I can't remember which Funkadelic (I believe it was a Funkadelic) that he made that clear on, but I recall it being very refreshing to me and laying my concerns with that to rest at once.

To be 100% honest, I'm not totally sure that Sam believes Zach is a PG either. Sam started this season saying this was going to be a player development year, not a year in which they plan on pulling out all the stops to win. It's clear that Sam planned on starting Lavine at SG this season until he saw him absolutely get destroyed in preseason, realizing that maybe he needs to come off the bench...and if you're starting Wiggins at the 2, then that creates a log jam at SG for minutes, hence the need to move Lavine, if he wants to get minutes.

What I *think* happened was that Sam saw the team not meshing at all this preseason until the final game in which Sam changed the lineup...and it worked. As you may recall, that was the first game in which Sam tried the lineup of Rubio-Wiggins-Prince-KG-Towns against the Bucks after getting trounced in the previous games with different lineups, mostly involving Lavine in the starting lineup. And if you're trying to build a young team, you want to try to latch onto any type of winning atmosphere you can find, because winning breeds confidence.

The Wolves have two very savvy PGs who haven't seen the court yet this season. Granted, one isn't ready physically yet. And the other is too old physically. But both know how to play PG. Hell, Andre Miller is known as The Professor for a reason. The guy is so damn smart running the show.

I wonder what they're thinking watching LaVine struggle with the most basic things at PG.

AbeVigodaLive wrote:The Wolves have two very savvy PGs who haven't seen the court yet this season. Granted, one isn't ready physically yet. And the other is too old physically. But both know how to play PG. Hell, Andre Miller is known as The Professor for a reason. The guy is so damn smart running the show.

I wonder what they're thinking watching LaVine struggle with the most basic things at PG.

Miller is there to mentor Lavine. It's clearly paying off

What I really like to see is Bjelica taking over playmaking role from Zach. Become a point forward kind of like Lamar Odom back in the day. His passing and court vision are top notch. He's underutilized in his current role, his role is too small now. But I'm not sure that Smitch is the coach who knows how to make it work.